The Reds have been playing the last several days with only three healthy outfielders. Dusty Baker said that Jay Bruce, bothered by a sore right side, isn’t going to return during the Cardinals series.

“I’m not even sure when in Colorado because we have a tough stretch of guys that would test that,” Baker said.

There is contemplation of getting another outfielder here but the Reds have no one in the Minors on the 40-man roster and no space to make room. One candidate at Triple-A Louisville, Wladimir Balentien, just went on the DL with an oblique. Baker said that Dave Sappelt is also being considered but indicated they could be looking outside the organization.

One in-house possibilty could be 1B/OF Danny Dorn at Louisville. Dorn is batting .307 in 81 games and Baker was impressed by him in Spring Training. Dorn is also left-handed, which would help the depth with Laynce Nix and Jim Edmonds on the DL and Bruce out.

Like this:

Outfielder and left-handed bench player Laynce Nix is unlikely to be available tonight or will only be used in a “dire emergency,” as manager Dusty Baker called it. Baker still wasn’t saying what Nix’s injury was and neither was Nix.

“It’s just a tight muscle hindering me from playing,” Nix said. “I will be back in a couple of days. It’s nothing too serious. I haven’t been able to swing that bat but it’s getting a lot better.”

Baker said he didn’t anticpate making a roster move. Besides, there really are no left-handed hitters at Triple-A Louisville. Danny Dorn just broke his hand and Juan Francisco is out for four weeks after his appendectomy. Yonder Alonso was just moved up from Double-A to take Dorn’s place.

Like this:

Aaron Miles still has an ugly, nasty looking black fingernail on his middle finger — the proof that remains from his small fracture at the tip. Fortunately it just looks worse than it is. Miles is expected to get his first game action on Friday.

“It’s slight pain but the doctor said I’m not going to hurt it at all,” said Miles, who fractured his finger on March 2. “The fracture was in a real good spot and to go be as aggressive as I want. As long as I go out there and make the plays, I’m good to go. I can’t hurt it more.”

The other member of the utility infield, broken finger club is Chris Burke, who suffered a more serious injury with a fractured knuckle on his right ring finger. Burke started swinging at bat on Wednesday and was headed to the cage again Thursday morning.

Manager Dusty Baker already has some tough decisions to make with his backup infielders. It’s a crowded group with Miles, Burke, Paul Janish, Miguel Cairo, Todd Frazier and Drew Sutton.Baker didn’t know how many extra infielders the club would carry.

“I haven’t even played that shell game yet,” he said. “We could play it all day and night. Right now, we have other things. We’ll play them and we’ll see come cut time. Now cut time comes weekly.”

*The first wave of cuts went down after Wednesday’s game.

Reassigned to Minor League camp were LHP Alexander Smit, RHP Jose Arredondo, 1B/OF Danny Dorn and catchers Ryan Yarbrough and Chris Denove. The next cuts will likely come after the day-night split-squad games on March 17.

Dorn caught the manager’s eye during his time in big league camp.

“Dorn, he impressed me,” Baker said. “It’s a matter of numbers and how much playing time he was going to get. I think he recognized pitches quicker than anybody among the young players we have here. Plus, he big-time got better at first base too.”

*Some tornadoes touched down near Benton, Ark., which is very close to where LHP Travis Wood’s family resides. Wood said his parents were OK and the twisters were a couple of miles away.

Greetings from Fort Myers and the Hammond Stadium press box. It’s a great view, made even greater by the well manicured field. For years, the Twins have employed groundskeeper guru George Toma Sr. to manicure the fields here. Toma was the man the NFL always used for its Super Bowls.

On to the notes…

The Reds have reset their rotation as follows: Arroyo (Sat. vs. TB), Masset (Sun. vs. TOR), OFF Monday, Bailey (Tues at PHI) and Harang (Wed at TB). No Cueto or Volquez on that list, which means that they’ll likely get work in from the bullpen or minor league games.

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